Buying a House
No one likes to give money away, but a monetary credit from the seller to the buyer can solve a problem that might otherwise derail a home-sale transaction. Here's a typical scenario where a seller credit could save the deal.
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How to protect yourself in a real estate transaction
It's no wonder that buying or selling a home ranks high on the list of the most stress-provoking events one can experience, up there with the death of a loved one and divorce. There's a lot at stake financially when you buy or sell a home. A good or bad outcome can affect your net worth, as well as your sense well being.
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How would a truly flexible mortgage work?
Lat week I had little good to say about Fannie Mae's new Payment Power Program (PPP), which allows a borrower to skip up to two mortgage payments in any 12-month period, and up to 10 over the life of a loan. A skipped payment results in an additional loan, equal to the payment plus a healthy access fee, tacked on to the balance. As an emergency source of funds, it is much more costly than accessing a home-equity line of credit (HELOC).
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Mortgage disclosure amendments do more harm than good
"The grapevine says that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is seriously considering a proposal by the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) for amending mortgage disclosure requirements. Is their proposal good for borrowers?"
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Should I take my home off the market for the holidays?
As we head into the last month of the year, sellers usually wonder if they should take their home off the market for the holidays. While no one has a crystal ball, there are many good reasons to consider leaving your home on the market until it sells.
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Taking possession of home before closing gets risky
Rarely do you find a home to buy that's in exactly the condition you'd like it to be. Even if the home is new, relatively new or well-maintained, you may want to make changes to the decor so that it suits your style preferences and works with your possessions.
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Traps all home buyers should avoid
At the beginning of a new year, it's natural to make resolutions. For instance, you may have been putting off buying a home. Now you've resolved to buy before interest rates rise and you're priced out of the market. Before forging ahead, consider the following tips and traps.
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What are the benefits of piggyback financing?
When a buyer puts 10 percent or less cash down, most lenders require mortgage insurance, known as PMI, which is paid for by the buyer. The cost of PMI is about 1/2 percent of the loan amount annually. So, on a $250,000 mortgage, PMI will run about $1,250 per year.
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What to consider when reviewing a home purchase offer
A home purchase agreement is a complicated legal document. It will include all of the terms and conditions of the sale, most of which are negotiable. Some sellers focus on the price the buyer offers, minimizing the other terms and conditions. This approach can lead to trouble.
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10 Benefits Of Buying At The End Of The Year
In addition to low interest rates, there are other benefits to buying at the end of the year, including:
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Back out legally
When can I pull out of a purchase contract?
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Big Mistakes Every Homeowner Should Avoid
In 1996, Zarmina Azadozy purchased her property at a mortgage lender's foreclosure sale. But she failed to record her deed.
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Checklist for fall home projects
Well, you can't deny it any longer – fall is in the air.
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Common Myths About Working With Real Estate Agents
Get started by avoiding these common myths about real estate agents.
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Determining Your Offer Price
When you prepare an offer to purchase a home, you already know the seller’s asking price. But what price are you going to offer and how do you come up with that figure?
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Determining Your Offer Price
When you prepare an offer to purchase a home, you already know the seller’s asking price. But what price are you going to offer and how do you come up with that figure?
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Do You Know The Real Price Of Your ARM?
Adjustable-rate mortgages are complicated instruments. No one characteristic fully describes one.
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Does Bankrupcy Automatically Preclude Me From Getting a Mortgage?
No
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Does Home Remodeling Always Pay Off?
Perhaps you've heard stories about homeowners who've greatly improved their net worth by remodeling homes and selling them.
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Dream homes on eBay (Barbie not included)
Suzanne "Mercedes" Hayes sells a lot of stuff on eBay.
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Estimating How Much Home You Can Afford
It's the question you need to ask yourself before you even BEGIN your new home search. It's the most important factor in determining what kind of home you can secure, and where you can begin to look. It's a crucial consideration for first-timers and veteran home buyers alike.
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Finding a Good Home Inspector: What You Should Ask
You've found the house, your offer has been accepted, and funding is in place. But before you start packing, be sure you hire a professional home inspector to make sure your house doesn't have any major defects that could cost you down the road.
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For-sale-by-owner fallouts
Why most do-it-yourself sellers give up after 30 to 60 days.
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Home-based business brings recapture concerns
Working at home has become as common as playing at home. Some employers will tell you the two are synonymous while many spouses – especially seniors and aging Baby Boomers not used to having their partner in the home all day—wonder if home-based work really is a good idea.
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House design for a friendly family
What describes a great house? It looks good and makes you feel good when you're inside it. It is energy efficient and comfortable. And it facilitates frequent casual interactions among family members.
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House Inspectors: Choosing The Right One...
A qualified house inspector is the surest way to discover a house's not-so-obvious problems. Most professional inspectors are from some type of construction background, such as engineering, architecture or contracting. Their responsibility is to crawl beneath the floors, squeeze through the attic and generally comb the house's structure and mechanical systems for shortcomings. They give the buyer a complete report; with this, the buyer can decide whether or not the house is a good deal, or at least put together a "punch list" of items that must be fixed (it isn't unusual for this report to contain about 50 items). The fee for this service generally runs from about $300 to $500 and up.
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How can I improve my real estate purchase offer?
Few failed endeavors can match the frustration of losing out in a multiple-offer competition. But, almost as disappointing is making the only offer—and a strong one—and having the seller outright reject it. Here are a few tips on how to sweeten your offer without jeopardizing your financial security.
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How do I prepare to close my home purchase?
Finding a home to buy and negotiating the purchase contract are the toughest parts of the home buying process for most people. But, if you don't plan ahead, and carefully monitor your home purchases transaction, you could find trouble ahead.
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How much work should you do before selling?
Recently a couple that owned a home in Berkeley, Calif., decided to move to neighboring Piedmont. They started their search by visiting Sunday open houses. It was quite apparent to them which listings had been prepared for sale and which ones had not. They were invariably drawn to listings that were charming, clean, and uncluttered.
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How to avoid buying bad real estate
Ask any experienced residential real estate attorney about his or her most difficult case. The answer will probably involve a "bad house." While not exactly a legal term, a bad house is one where the buyer alleges the seller knew about a serious structural defect, but failed to disclose it to the buyer before purchase.
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How to buy profitable real estate
Are you the adventurous type of home buyer who wants to make a profitable purchase? Or are you looking for a near-perfect "model home" acquisition where all you have to do is turn the key in the front door and move in?
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How To Plan Custom Home and Cut The Cost
Last spring I participated in an "Ask the Experts" panel in Sarasota, Fla. Afterwards, a woman in the audience asked me to review her plans for a new beach house overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.
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How To Save Money On Your New Home
Do you clip food coupons from your Sunday newspaper? Or do you take advantage of sales at your favorite department store? Then you will certainly appreciate BIG savings on the purchase of a new home!
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How To Save Money On Your New Home
Do you clip food coupons from your Sunday newspaper? Or do you take advantage of sales at your favorite department store? Then you will certainly appreciate BIG savings on the purchase of a new home!
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How to sell home without real estate agent
Have you noticed when you are on an airplane, the stranger sitting next to you will often reveal secrets he probably wouldn't tell his closest friends?
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If your suburb sprawls, your gut is more likely to sprawl, too
Car-loving suburbanites pack on about six more pounds than those who live in dense cities, where people tend to keep off weight by walking more.
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Is private mortgage insurance good or bad?
Unless you are involved with real estate you probably have never heard of PMI. No. It's not a serious disease. In fact, PMI can be extremely beneficial if you are a "cash challenged" home buyer without a sufficient down payment.
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Is Your Dream Custom Home Out of Reach? Not Today!
When the average American thinks about a custom home he thinks of finding a builder and perhaps an architect who take his dreams and convert them into the home of his dreams. Always the fly in the ointment is cost. Can the average American afford the luxury of a custom designed home?
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Low price not always best value
A home at a low price may be no bargain at all if the maintenance costs are prohibitive
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Manufactured Housing Sheds Stereotype
Forget the term "mobile home" - it's so 26 years ago.
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Most Common Mortgage Mistakes And How To Avoid Them
The Canadian Institute of Mortgage Brokers and Lenders conducted the annual survey with sponsorship from the federal government’s housing arm.
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Online Lending Makes Financing Your Dream Home Easy And Fast
Financing the construction of your dream home may seem like a complicated process compared to the standard home purchase or refinance of an existing home.
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Over Improving May Hurt Resale
Resale value is very important if you plan to refinance or sell soon. Many factors affect it, including economic and housing market conditions, quality of the house, and desirability of the neighborhood. One measure of a home's resale value is the length of time it spent on the market before you bought it. To improve resale value, consider improvements such as landscaping or an updated kitchen. But be careful not to over-improve for the neighborhood. You may scare off buyers and you aren't likely to recoup much of your improvement costs.
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Over-Improving May Hurt Resale
Resale value is very important if you plan to refinance or sell soon. Many factors affect it, including economic and housing market conditions, quality of the house, and desirability of the neighborhood. One measure of a home's resale value is the length of time it spent on the market before you bought it. To improve resale value, consider improvements such as landscaping or an updated kitchen. But be careful not to over-improve for the neighborhood. You may scare off buyers and you aren't likely to recoup much of your improvement costs.
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Plan Ahead for Real Estate Market Shifts
If an economic disaster turns your local housing market into mush, will you be poised to capitalize on the new opportunities?
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Property Lines Not Always As They Appear
Fences do not always follow the boundaries of the property. This will only be the case if the seller had the property surveyed and had the fences built on the property line. Often, sellers do not go to the expense of having surveys performed when they put in fences. The fences end up where the owners think the property lines end. Sellers may replace old fences that were built by previous owners who may not have known the location of property lines.
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Pros and cons of old and new homes
When deciding between an old or new home, the list of pros and cons is lengthy.
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Real estate not always secured with highest bid
Most sellers would be delighted to receive multiple offers. However, figuring out which offer to accept is not always as simple as you might think.
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Realtor VS. "For Sale By Owner"
"Why do we need a real estate agent? After all, an agent will charge thousands of dollars to sell even an average home, and that commission comes right off the top! Heck, with the Internet and all, we can do practically everything that an agent would do, so why should we pay out all that money?"
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Realtor VS. "For Sale By Owner"
"Why do we need a real estate agent? After all, an agent will charge thousands of dollars to sell even an average home, and that commission comes right off the top! Heck, with the Internet and all, we can do practically everything that an agent would do, so why should we pay out all that money?"
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Shopping For a Good Home Deal
Everyone wants a good deal. But, good deals are few and far between in the many low-inventory markets around the country.
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Should I Buy Real Estate at the Top of the Market?
Buying a first home is a scary experience. It's easy to imagine the worst. How will I know a good house when I see it? What if I buy a house I can't sell? How can I make sure I'm making a good investment? What if I pay too much and home prices drop?
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Should You Buy A Home Through A Real Estate Agent?
One of the first things many people do when beginning their search for a new home is enlist the help of a real estate agent. It is the realtor's job, after all, to help you find the home that is perfect for you.
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The Biggest Home Defect To Watch For
Water damage is the biggest defect to watch for.
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The Perfect Escrow - Does it Exist?
Very simply defined, an escrow is a deposit of funds, a deed or other instrument by one party for the delivery to another party upon completion of a particular condition or event. The California Escrow Law – Section 17003 of the Financial Code – provides the legal definition.
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Thorough inspection gives agent 'rude awakening'
Quality work protects agents from liability, buyers from 'terminal problems'
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Tips and tricks for refinancing your home mortgage
Thanks to today's ultra-low interest rates, the home mortgage business is booming at a record pace.
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Too many houses, but only one fits
Finding a home to buy is rarely easy. Some buyers look for months, even years, before finding the right house. When you do find the right house, a mixed bag of emotions can cloud your good judgment. You'll probably wonder if you're making the right decision.
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Try selling home without agent
About 85 percent of home sellers use real estate agents to list and sell their houses.
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Unhappy customers can do more than write to HUD
The great majority of loans today are serviced by firms that don't own them. The servicer is paid by, and is beholden to the owner of the mortgage. Borrowers have no say in who services their loan, and if they get poor service, about all they can do is write a letter of complaint to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Therefore, it is hardly surprising that servicing does not generally meet the needs of borrowers.
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What is the Alternative to a Lock-In?
The alternative to locking in an interest rate is to let it float.
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What is the disadvantage of an older home?
Maintenance will be higher on an older house if major components such as the plumbing, heating and electrical systems, roof, major appliances or drainage system need repair or replacement. Before you purchase the home, find out the age of the major systems. Have they been updated or are they original? Ask the sellers to provide a list of repairs and modifications they have made to these systems, including the date the repairs were made. Also, find out how much it costs to heat the house and if it is insulated. Another consideration is that most older homes often do not meet modern building code requirements. Older houses can be updated or retrofitted to conform to current code—but the price can be steep. Also, older houses may contain materials that are hazardous, such as asbestos or lead.
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What Is Title Insurance? Why Do You Need It?
You're having breakfast. There's a knock on the door. A former owner's brother introduces himself. He was out of the country when his sibling passed away and didn't sign-off his interests as an heir to the estate. Could this be a problem?
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What Type of Real Estate Makes the Best Investment?
During the economic downturn of the early 1990s, a home in the Crocker Highlands area of Oakland, Calif., sold twice in two years. The house did not change substantially during this time, nor did its price. But, average prices in the neighborhood dropped about 15 percent during the same time.
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When is the best time to sell?
Many people think that spring is the best time to sell a home.
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Why Buy a New Home? (Or, Why NOT Buy a Re-sale Home?)
There are many factors one must consider when deciding between the purchase of a new or re-sale home.
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Win a $10,000 Bond While Shopping For A Home
When was the last time you won a sweepstakes? Like most of us, you probably have never won a decent prize. The reason is simple…the odds of winning most large lotteries or sweepstakes are often slimmer than a million to one.
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"First-Hand Advice" Builders Offer Five Tips For Buyers
When it comes to home sales and construction, it is certainly the builder's responsibility to make sure the process goes smoothly.
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